Ship your bike

You have sold your old road bike, gravel bike, MTB etc.? Then the only thing left to do is to ship the bike. However, there are some obstacles to overcome: A packaging must be made, the bike must be partially disassembled and packed so that no part is damaged. Once this is done, the search begins for a transport company that will deliver your bike reliably and safely to its destination in the shortest possible time. But where can you find a suitable box? Which is the right transport company? Will your bike be picked up at your home or do you have to deliver it to the pick-up station yourself? How much will shipping cost you and what are the costs?

In this article we will answer all your questions about bike shipping. And we'll show you why you'll save yourself a lot of hassle if you sell your bike with buycycle.

How do I ship my bike?

In Germany or in Europe, a bicycle can be shipped without any problems. However, you usually have to take care of the packaging, the right service provider and a smooth process yourself. The following steps must be taken into account:

1. choose service provider

Bicycles are anything but convenient to ship and fall under bulky goods for many parcel services and transport companies. In this case, the belt dimension must be taken into account, because many transport companies use the belt dimension to judge whether the bike is still a permissible size for transport or not. Therefore, you should find out in advance which regulations exist for permissible sizes with different providers before you buy the packaging. Basically, you have the choice between well-known parcel services such as DHL, Hermes and Co. or freight forwarders. There are differences not only in the permissible dimensions, but also in the price. You can find a detailed overview of possible transport companies here.

2. get packing

When shipping your bike, you also have to take care of the right packaging. You have several options:

• With providers such as Paket AG, packaging can be ordered online to the home. Large platforms like Amazon also offer bicycle packaging. Cardboard boxes for bicycle shipping cost at least 25€ on Amazon. The additional costs for the packaging should be considered in addition to the shipping costs. You should also take the delivery time for the cardboard box into account when you tell the buyer when they can expect the bike to be delivered.
• Before you spend money on new cardboard boxes, you can alternatively ask in a bike store for old, remaining cardboard boxes. After all, asking costs nothing and if you're lucky, neither do the cardboard boxes.

Buying packages in the post office, on the other hand, is not an option, as the special dimensions for a bicycle shipment are not offered. Theoretically, it is also possible to ship a bicycle with Deutsche Bahn via the luggage service. However, this is not recommended because the luggage service is only for travel and not for the exchange of goods, so that trouble can quickly arise.

Important: Whether with special providers for packages or Amazon: Usually only the packages themselves are offered. However, in order to stabilize the bike in the box and protect the high-quality components, the frame and the wheels, you need additional materials such as bubble wrap or foam around the bike frame, regardless of the transport company. You can get such materials at hardware stores, for example. You can also order them online. For a better hold, you can fix bubble wrap or foam with cable ties.

3. bike packing

The cardboard box is purchased, now it's time to pack it. How you have to proceed always depends on the size of the bike. We give you a brief overview of the correct procedure:

• E-bikes, cargo bikes and particularly large bikes in general sometimes have to be completely disassembled. This means removing the rear and front wheels, dismounting the rear derailleur, removing the handlebars and, in the case of an e-bike, possibly also removing the battery.
• For "normal" bikes, i.e. racing bikes, mountain bikes, city bikes, etc., it is usually sufficient to remove the front wheel and fold down the handlebars or, if necessary, remove them.
• Regardless of whether it is a large e-bike or a normal bike, the following applies to all bikes: Small parts such as pedals, bike baskets and bike computers should always be dismantled and packed separately and securely. Use protective materials such as bubble wrap, foam or separate small cardboard boxes to ensure that the high-quality components are not damaged during transport.

Need more info? You can find a detailed description of how to pack a bike in our blog article.

4. bring the bicycle to the forwarding agency or logistics service provider or have it picked up.

Your bike is professionally disassembled and safely packed? Then it can now be shipped! In the past, most logistics service providers picked up bikes at home and brought them to the new owner. Unfortunately, those days are over: Today, DHL, UPS, Hermes and Co. no longer pick up the bikes, so you have to bring them to the drop-off station yourself. Of course, this usually involves a certain amount of effort due to the size and weight of the package; after all, it can be a challenge to transport a bike in a normal car. So you can't rely on the logistics service providers to conveniently pick up your bike from your home. However, in fact, some freight forwarders still offer home bike pickup. Due to the large number of forwarding companies, however, you have to check the respective pick-up times. So: Does the forwarding agency come at a clearly defined time or generously estimated "between 8 and 18 o'clock"? Depending on the information of the forwarding agency you are quite inflexible, because you have to be there when your packed bike is picked up. Also the quality of the respective forwarding agency must be estimated: How are the delivery times, what do the customer experiences say, how does the forwarding company handle the bikes? When you hand your bike over to someone else, you want to make sure that it arrives at the new owner in the same condition as you packed it. So before you hand your bike over to the next best shipping company, take the time to research a really good service provider, especially in terms of bike shipping, or benefit from the experience of the buycycle team.

Bicycle shipping with DHL, UPS, Hermes and Co. - Which provider is the right one?

You want to ship your bike with one of the big logistics providers? For private customers, however, it is relatively difficult to ship bikes via Germany's largest shipping and transport companies, such as DHL, Hermes, Cargo International and UPS, because, as already explained, they do not offer pickup from home. Therefore, you have to deliver your bike directly to a pick-up point of the respective transport company, which proves to be complicated due to the bulkiness of the cardboard packaging. If you want to ship an e-bike, there is the additional problem of the bike's heavy weight. So, transporting the bike to the parcel service is usually quite costly. Even if the large transport companies would be your first choice for other goods shipments, they are less suitable for uncomplicated bicycle shipping.

But rather a freight forwarder?

You don't want the hassle of taking your bike to a pick-up station? In addition to the large transport companies, you can also choose a shipping company, such as GO or Emons, which will pick up the bikes directly from your home. Here, however, there are, as already described, great differences in the quality of delivery. That is, how long a delivery takes, how reliable the pickup and delivery is and how well deadlines are met. It is also important to know how susceptible to damage the bike and bike frame is, because not every employee of a shipping company handles packages as carefully as you would like as a sender or recipient. We at buycycle have also noticed that there are big differences between the various shipping companies. We have had good experiences with GO, for example.

How much does the bike shipping cost?

The costs for bicycle shipping vary and can usually not be given as a flat rate. However, some providers have a shipping calculator with which you can calculate your individual shipping costs. There are some important factors that influence the price:

• Insurance value: Without insurance, shipping is always cheaper, but it is still not recommended to ship your bike uninsured. If something goes wrong, for example, the bike does not arrive at its destination or is damaged, this falls back on you as the sender and you are stuck with the costs. Therefore, you should not save in the wrong place and take out insurance. Generally, the higher the value of the insured item, the higher the associated costs. For expensive road bikes or e-bikes, this can already lead to a large block of costs. Most transport companies offer different insurance classes for bicycle shipping depending on the value of the bike, so you can estimate in advance what shipping your bike will cost you in terms of insurance.
• Pickup: If the service provider offers pickup, you can partially choose whether to bring the bike to the pickup station or have it picked up right at your doorstep. The pickup from home usually costs extra, but saves you a lot of work.
• Package size: Clearly, a bicycle carton is always bulky. Nevertheless, there may be differences in girth, with additional surcharges added for particularly large cardboard boxes, for example for an e-bike. This depends on the requirements of the respective transport company.
• Weight of the package: Similar to the size is true for the weight of the package. Most likely, shipping a heavy e-bike will cost more than shipping a lightweight carbon road bike.
• Delivery time: As with other packages, you have to expect a few days delivery time for bike shipping. Overnight deliveries are sometimes possible, but usually cost extra, similar to Amazon Next Day Deliveries.
• National or international shipping: Bicycle shipping within a country is of course cheaper than across national borders. With some providers, only national shipping is possible. However, this should not be too much of an obstacle, as you will certainly easily find a buyer for your bike within your country.

So there are many factors that come into play when it comes to the cost of shipping a bike. This makes it difficult to name a flat price. Nevertheless, we can give you a small indication: Basically, you'll pay between €70 and €120 for fully insured shipping within Germany with pickup - exceptions prove the rule. Bicycle shipping is therefore quite an expensive undertaking and it is only understandable that you want as smooth a process as possible for your money. No matter how much you search for a good shipping company, no one can give you a guarantee for safe shipping, except for customer reviews, and the rather high costs remain in any case.

To make things easier for you in terms of cost, organization and security, buycycle offers you a simple and secure solution for all these inconveniences!

Ship your bike safely and conveniently? Quite simply with buycycle

With buycycle, the buyer can decide whether he or she wants to pick up the bike themselves or choose a bike shipping. As a seller, you are thus relieved of an important decision, including considerations and research. In addition, you don't have to go to the trouble of comparing different providers: At buycycle, you ship your bike with a shipping company that we cooperate with. We know that your bike will be in good hands when we ship it to you. And it's even easier: You don't have to pay additional costs or a surcharge, because the bike sale at buycycle is basically free of charge - the shipping costs are paid by the buyer (if no pickup is chosen).

We at buycycle take almost everything off your hands. We send you the packaging material, i.e. cardboard boxes, as well as additional materials for the protection of small parts, various components, wheels, etc. to your home. So you also save the money for ordering a cardboard box. To avoid damage, the cardboard box we send you is perfectly tailored to bikes and e-bikes. To protect the environment, we use as little plastic as possible. So we don't use foam and we only use bubble wrap, which gives your bike just as much protection. Of course, a transport insurance gives you the additional security that the shipment will go smoothly. All you have to do is pack your bike professionally - of course, we will provide you with instructions. Our partner shipping company will then come to your home at your desired time with a time window of three hours and pick up the packed bike. You do not have to print out a shipping bill. With our partner shipping company, we guarantee short delivery times for bicycle shipping: It only takes one business day on average for your bicycle to arrive at the recipient's destination. So the buyer does not have to wait long for riding fun with the new "old" piece of jewelry. If you are impatient, you and the buyer can use the shipment tracking function to find out where the bike box with the bike is at any time. As you have seen, shipping a bike is a time-consuming and sometimes quite expensive undertaking. With buycycle you save time and money and you can be sure that your bike will arrive at the buyer in the same condition as you packed it. And if something does go wrong, buycycle will take care of clarification and replacement by the shipping company.

You want to make someone else happy with your "old" bike? The buycycle team is always available to answer any questions you may have about selling your bike and makes shipping your bike as uncomplicated and convenient as possible.